Improvement in lasts



W. l. STETSU N, S. C. CHAM BERLIN &

l. C. BICKFUR D.

Lasts. Ng'ldf'lgg5l Patented Feb.24,1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEEIGEc WARREN I. S'IETSON, SPENCER C. CIIAMEEELDT, AND JOHN C. BICKFQED,

OF BERLIN, MASSACHUSETTS.

YIMPRovi-:MENT IN LAs'rs.

Spccilication forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,995, dated February 24, 1874; application filed December 22, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WARREN I. STETSON, SPENCER C. CHAMBERLIN, and J oEN G. Bron- FORD, all of Berlin, in the county of /Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Lasts; and we do hereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany and form part of this specification, is a description of our invention sufficient to enable those skilled ir the art to practice it.

In 'constructing lasts it is customary to make each with a slide-block, forming the upper instep portion thereof, and extending well down toward the toe, the shoe being lasted i over such block, and the block being irst withdrawn to loosen the last and permit its withdrawal. Such block rests upon a seat that is cut as deep as ispossible with proper reference to the strength of the last, and by having blocks sufciently thick to permit of ready dislodgment or withdrawal, the lasts are so weakened at the toe, or at the bottom ofthe seats upon which the blocks rest, as to result in much breakage of lasts at these points.

The object of our invention is to obviate this defect, and, in obviating it, to enable blocks to be made deeper at the sides of the last. To etl'ect this we form each last with a block-seat higher at the center than at the sides, and with a block correspondingly recessed to it upon the ridging seat. enabled to make a very much stronger last than can be made when the seat is cut straight4 across the last, and deep enough for the block, while we can also make a block extending farther down toward the sole, as the recessed block does not itself have to be very strong, and the ridging of the seat leaves so much thickness of material through the center of the seat that the sides can be dropped very much lower than when the seat is cut straight across.

Our invention consists, primarily, in a last formed with a block-seat which rises from the sides toward the center of the last.

By this means we are In making such a last, the seat may be formed of two straight faces, extending from the sides to an apex line at the center, or with a convex or crowning seat, a crosssection of which is convex, and a longitudinal section of which forms a concave.

The drawing represents a last of cach kind.

Figures 1 and 2 show such lasts in side view, the blocks being denoted by dotted lines. Figs. 3 and 4 show sections of them on the lines .t x.

In Figs. l and 3, a denotes the bodycf the last; b, the block. This last is shown as made with the two seat-faces c d rising from the side to the center line c, these faces being successively sawed with a straight saw, and the center being very much higher than the sides, as shown in Fig. 3. In Figs. 2 and 4, f denotes the body of the last, and g the block; 7L, the curved seat, crowning, as seen by the line t 7c Z in Fig. 4, and curving longitudinally, as shown byithe line m n o in Fig. 2. Each block, b g, is recessed to t upon its seat, and by the great increase in thickness or depth of the sides of the last, the block is easily withdrawn without unduly stretching the upper of the boot or shoe, and without danger ot' breaking or tearing the same, as the corners or edges that are sawed oft by the improved plan are the parts on the old last that bind and tear when the last is withdrawn.

We claiml. A last formed with the ridged or crowning block-seat, substantially as shown, and for the purpose described.

2. The last having a concaved or recessed block resting upon a ridged or crowning seat, substantially as and for the purpose describedi wAEEEN I. sTETsoN. srENoEE o. UHAMBEELIN. y JOHN c. BIcKEoED.

Witnesses:

FRANK L. SAwYEE, MILTON DAY. 

